PARENTS and staff of Ashburton pre-school are holding a crunch meeting on Monday to decide if it will have to close down. Shortage of funds has kept the pre-school, based in Cadet Hall, Love Lane, on a knife-edge for months. Fundraising efforts producing £1,828 averted closure before Christmas. Now facing a possible deficit of £1,526 at the end of the financial year, a meeting has been called to decide its future. Ashburton's other pre-school is full, which could mean mothers being left without child care if it has to close down. Chairman Gemma Laity, whose three-year-old daughter Olivia attends the pre-school, is optimistic it can survive. She thinks it has a secure future provided it can weather the next few months. 'I am very hopeful. I need the pre-school to stay open. I can't afford a child minder, so if it closed, I would have to give up work.' She said the reason for the shortfall is that of the 18 children, ten are under three and therefore not funded by Devon Council. Parents pay £5 a session, which is the most they feel they can reasonably charge. Next year, being one year older, the children will attract £8.23 a session from the government. She said a contributory factor was the shortage of three-year-olds. Ashburton's birth rate dipped in 2003/4 but has since gone up again. 'In Ashburton alone there are 40 children, plus two and three-year-olds, which should be enough for both pre-schools to be sustained.' She hopes Devon Council will grant £2,500 sustainability fund, which would see them through to the end of the term and pay redundancy to the five members of staff, if necessary. A local business has offered £1,000 and she is also in talks with Glendinnings. Mel Stride, Conservative candidate for Central Devon, has also promised to help. A mid-summer ball is being organised, and he is also seeking a rent reduction from the Ministry of Defence, the pre-school's landlord.